THE Scottish rugby coach is in for the show of a lifetime when his squad pull out all the stops against the USA in tonight's match, according to skipper Greig Laidlaw.

SKIPPER Greig Laidlaw insists Scotland’s players will bust a gut against the USA in order to impress coach Vern Cotter.

The Scots go into action at red-hot Houston in the early hours of tomorrow with a line-up that is a mix of experience and promise.

Cotter’s first selection includes three new starters – Finn Russell, Gordon Reid and Blair Cowan – and two other possible newbies from the bench in Alex Allan and Grayson Hart.

And Laidlaw insists it’s a chance to make a mark ahead of next year’s World Cup.

The captain said: “It’s good to be back together with the squad and finally to have Vern here.

“The boys are looking forward to the game and looking forward to trying to impress him. We have struggled with the heat. It was a bit of a shock but we’ve adapted.”

Laidlaw, like most of the squad, will get two outings – against the USA and Canada next weekend – before heading home to switch clubs from Edinburgh to Gloucester.

A fresh squad will be flown out for the Tests against Argentina and South Africa with only a handful of players overlapping.

Laidlaw revealed Cotter has not tinkered too much with team systems so far. He said: “Vern is his own man but won’t come in and make wholesale changes at the start. It will take time to put his stamp on the team.

“The players have taken a liking to him. He is quiet but when he talks rugby everyone listens. You don’t want to muck about when he is here and rightly so.”

No one seems entirely sure what to make of the USA team they will face at Compass Stadium, home of the Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer team.

Callum Moffat

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The American line-up will include some big names from European rugby, including Saracens pair Chris Wyles – second top try scorer in the Heineken Cup – and giant lock Hayden Smith. The Scots will have an inside line on both, though, with Kelly Brown, who misses out with foot injury, and Sarries colleague Duncan Taylor giving them a steer on what to expect.

Half the American side are home based, however, and will be unknown quantities.

But Laidlaw said: “They’re aggressive and keen and fly into rucks and mauls.

“Conditions are conditions – we can’t do anything about those. We need to worry about the game and beating the Americans.”

Meanwhile, Gordy Reid will dedicate his first Scotland cap to the coach who gave him his big chance to be a top-flight player.

If it hadn’t been for Sean Lineen’s foresight, Reid could have been at home in Ayrshire polishing and mending antiques.

And for the Glasgow cult hero, his cap comes a year and a half after he was stranded on the bench as an unused sub when the Scots crashed to Tonga at Pittodrie.

The muscle man from Irvine said: “I wasn’t one of the lads who was offered an academy contract – I was one of the hardcore boys. I had to go out and get a job when I was 16 and played for Ayr at weekends and trained at night.

“I trained as an antique restorer and French polisher and set up my own wee business. It was the only thing I could do because it seemed there was no prospect of pro rugby.

“I was doing all sorts of other things as well to earn a living – I was a bouncer for a while, I did stints in B&Q, I was a barman and I was even roofing at one stage.

“But that didn’t work out too well because I broke just about every slate I stood on.

“I was knackered most of the time but still had to find energy to play for Ayr and I loved it.

“I got into the Scotland club select squad and that was when Sean, who was Warriors coach, asked me if I fancied joining.

“It wasn’t hard to decide that being paid for what I liked doing best was definitely for me.

“As soon as I step on to that park I forget about everything else. I forget how tough training is.

“I even forget about the fall-outs I’ve had with the missus.

“No matter what happens I will never forget where I came from and especially Sean and the other people who have helped me.”

Reid was also so near and yet so far to making his big step up exactly a year ago when he was flown out to South Africa as a tour injury replacement.

He said: “I was with the squad for 10 days, having arrived just 24 hours before the match against the Springboks.